A USB dead drop is an anonymous, offline, peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...

 file sharing network in public space using a USB device.

Typically, a USB flash drive

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

 will be mounted in an outdoor brick wall and fixed in place with concrete. The name comes from the dead letter box method of espionage communication.

The first USB dead drop network, of five devices, was started in October 2010 in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 by Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

-based artist Aram Bartholl

Aram Bartholl

Aram Bartholl has been working in Berlin since 1995. He is known for his exploration of the relationship between the digital and physical world. In his play on video game adaptations he is connecting the virtual and real world in a new way...

, a member of New York's Fat lab art and technology collective.

Everyone is invited to drop or find files on a dead drop. Plug your laptop to a wall, house or pole to share your favorite files and data. Each dead drop is installed empty except a readme.txt file explaining the project.